--- [Fei’s perspective]

I continue to breathe heavily while that guy walks away.

Everyone I fought before him were all weak, so I thought the level would be low…

He got lucky though, I could have beaten him if I had been more careful…

I was just about to break his arm, but I might have died in the process…

Although it’s not like me to back out of a fight, I’d rather not die just to break some random loser’s arm.

If we get an opportunity to fight in the next round, I’ll show him what I’m really made of!

I won’t make any dumb mistakes next time!

It takes a few moments, but eventually I catch my breath again.

Alright, time to get moving.

Seems like this exam is at a much higher level than I thought, so there is no need for me to run around and fight all the weaklings.

The sooner the second round starts, the sooner I get to fight the strong people.

So instead of wasting time on the small fry, I’ll just get a flag as quickly as I can.

The most efficient way to look for a flag is not by searching for it yourself, but rather by taking it from someone else…

… Is what most people would say.

Although it is for the most part true, why only do one of them, when you can do both?

I’ll run around looking for people with a flag, while also searching myself.

Checking the more obscure hiding spots; like under rocks, would be inefficient.

But I might as well be looking around on the ground, in the trees, or even change my movements in such a way that I maximize my chances of finding a flag.

Kick leaves while running to see if there is a flag under them, climb up every hill to get a better view, jump from tree to tree…

There are so many ways to make the search for a flag more efficient.

I continue to run around for a while, both searching for a flag myself, and for someone carrying a flag, but to no avail…

Ugh!

Can I just find a flag already?!

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And before I even get to finish the thought, I spot a flag hidden in the leaves of a tree.

Nice!!

I jump up and grab it.

Hell yeah!

Now I just need to get back, and I’ll move on to the second round.

I immediately start running back, but not long after, I hear someone shouting.

“GUYS! FLAG! SHE HAS A FLAG!”

A large crowd of people suddenly come out of nowhere.

They block my path and start surrounding me.

“What the hell is this?!” – Fei

How are there so many people in one group???

I can understand a couple friends grouping up, but this is way too many people…

It’s too many for me to be able to see with just a single look, but it looks like it’s at least 100 people.

Most of them are armed too.

“Just give us the flag and we’ll leave you alone!”

“HAH! As if dumbass! If you want the flag, you’ll have to take it from me!” – Fei

“You heard her boys, take it!”

Five of them split off from the group and runs towards me.

One of them runs straight towards me and continually tries to stab me with a dagger.

I dodge his stabs by hopping backwards, but another one of them comes from behind and tries to smash me with a maul.

Instead of continuing to dodge the guy with the dagger, I instead leap towards him.

I crash into him, and he drops his dagger.

My forwards leap also let me dodge the swing from the guy with the maul.

Only two of the five guys are currently attacking me, but this changes quickly.

One guy tries to slash me with a sword from the right side, and another one tries to kick me from the left side.

I grab the arm of the guy that crashed into me, and I throw him into the sword of the guy to my right.

The sword pierces his chest and they’re both sent flying from the impact.

I manage to grab the foot of the guy kicking me before it connects.

He loses balance and falls over, but before I let go, I throw him away as far as I can.

While doing so, his leg snapped like a twig.

All while this is happening, the last guy prepares his attack.

He comes leaping at me from above and attempts to impale me with a trident.

The guy with the maul swings yet again, but instead of dodging, I instead stop the swing my bare hand.

I snatch the maul from him and use it to block the trident by swinging it with all my might into the tips.

The trident is shattered, and the guy falls down towards me.

I grab him by the neck, and I slam him as hard as I can into the ground.

The person who used to have the maul looks terrified, he clearly didn’t expect me to deal with four of them so effortlessly.

He starts backing off, but I won’t let him get away that easily.

“Here, you can have this back!” – Fei

I throw the maul right at him.

It connects directly with his face, caving his head in.

That entire interaction lasted less than a second.

“…” – The crowd

“You still want the flag?” – Fei

The guy who spoke earlier speaks up again.

“Five might not have been enough, but can you handle 120?!”

The entire group runs towards me at the same time.

“120 ants are not enough to beat a tiger!” – Fei

I wait until they get within range, then I attack.

Some of them I grab, throwing them into other people.

Other times I dodge and let their attacks hit their teammates.

Sometimes I grab their weapons and use them myself.

But no matter how I chose to fight, it would all lead to the same conclusion…

Victory.

It was a bloodbath.

Most of them died, some were only knocked out, and a few managed to run away.

At some point throughout the battle, I took a metal bat from one of them.

Turns out, I’m pretty good at using it.

I think I’ll keep it.

With a pile of corpses behind me, I walk away with a flag in one hand, and a bat in the other.

It doesn’t take long for me to make my way back.

“Congratulations!! You’re the sixth person to have finished the first round of the exam, meaning we have finally gone past the halfway point.” – Leanne

As I walk over to one of the benches, some guy speaks to me.

“Oh my… Look at all that blood. It doesn’t appear to be yours…” – Leon